Verbal Idioms - Easy Learning Grammar Italian

Some important Italian verbs behave differently from their English equivalent, for example:

Mi piace l’Italia.

I like Italy.

Mi piacciono i cani.

I like dogs.

Both English sentences have the same verb like, which agrees with the subject, I.

The Italian sentences have different verbs, one singular (piace) and the other plural (piacciono). This is because the verb piacere literally means to be pleasing, and in one sentence what’s pleasing is singular (l’Italia) and in the other it’s plural (i cani).

If you use this wording in English you also get two different verbs: Italy is pleasing to me; Dogs are pleasing to me.

TipRemember to turn the sentence around in this way when talking about what you like in Italian.

1Present tense of piacere

When talking about likes and dislikes in the present use piace if the subject of the verb is singular, and piacciono if it is plural.

Use the appropriate indirect pronoun: mi, ti, gli, le, ci, or vi.

Note that gli means both to him, and to them, so it is used to say what he likes, and what they like.

Questo colore non mi piace.

I don’t like this colour.(literally: this colour is not pleasing to me)

Ti piacciono le mie scarpe?

Do you like my shoes? (literally: are my shoes pleasing to you?)

Non gli piacciono i dolci.

He doesn’t like desserts. (literally: desserts are not pleasing to him)

Le piace l’Italia, signora?

Do you like Italy, madam? (literally: is Italy pleasing to you?)

Ci piace il mare.

We like the sea. (literally: the sea is pleasing to us)

Vi piacciono le montagne?

Do you like the mountains? (literally: are the mountains pleasing to you?)

Sono vecchi, non gli piacequesta musica.

They’re old, they don’t like this music. (literally: this music isn’t pleasing to them)